Introductions

[Dev4x - Moonshot Education Project]

This topic is for us to introduce ourselves to one another and to communicate how we would like to contribute to the project. 

[Bodo Hoenen]

Hello All, My name is Bodo Hoenen, I have a beautiful wife and two beautiful children. We now live in New York, but moved around much of the world before settling down here about 4 years ago.  I have two major passions, besides my family and that is space exploration and working on this project to create a revolutionary educational solution to help all children, especially those that need it most.

My goal in this project is to foster a radically open approach to solving this educational challenge. For the first time in history we have the capability to give every child a quality education, but only if we focus on what is truly important and choose to do the work. let us do that work together! 

You can find me on LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/bodohoenen/  and Twitter: https://twitter.com/BodoHoenen

[Misha Eydman]

Hi, my name is Misha Eydman. I have always believed that sufficient education has the power to improve the world and if everyone had the opportunity to learn equally, we would have less conflicts, healthier population and greater technological advancements. I have joined this project in 2014 when I accidentally stumbled upon it and realized that it has the potential to radically change the world in the way I never imagined. I believe we will succeed in providing educaiton to those who have not had a chance before and because of that our kids will have a better world to live in.

I live with my family of 5 in NYC and work on various efforts, which include business strategy, product management and solution architecture.

www.meydman.info

www.linkedin.com/in/meydman

[Matthew McGinn]

Hi all! My name is Matthew McGinn. I am from New Jersey but currently based in Miami working at an entrepreneurship education startup. I have volunteered working & teaching at orphanages on three continents, & there realized the value that education has in a child's development! I am particularly excited to contribute both to the networking & ai technology in this project.

[Jeff Bennett]

Hey, I'm Jeff Bennett located in the Bay Area in California. I come from a family of educators but have to say, school wasn't one of my favorite subjects. Being fortunate enough to have found a great long career in tech, getting connected to the world's knowledge via the Internet half way through changed my view of what was possible generally, and in education particularly. This team is focused on the goal of giving everyone the education that should be an inalienable right. I am fortunate to have found them and proud to work with them. 

I encourage you to visit us at http://www.dev4x.com/ - we could use the help. 

https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeffkbennett

[Jacob McOwan]

Hello Everyone,

My name is Jacob McOwan and I am a copywriter and have been working with Dev4X on various writing-based projects since August 2014. . 

For fun, I love to cook and often adventure to try recipes from all over the world as a way to experiences cultures and cities I haven't yet had the chance to visit. I am from St. Louis, but currently live in Boston.

My background is in cultural anthropology, and play writing. Currently, I am working as a freelancer for a variety of clients doing research, trend watching, content creation and social media management. Working with Dev4X has been a way for me to gain valuable experience as well as use my skills to work toward providing an education for others. 

Please connect with me on LinkedIn and/or Twitter. 

[Abby Adams]

Hi!  My name is Abby Adams, and I just started volunteering with Dev4X a few weeks ago.  I am a graduate student at New York University studying Digital Media Design for Learning.  I am currently in my final semester of school, working on my thesis which is a piece of technology that will provide culturally localized early reading lessons/practice for refugee students with little formal education experience.

Before going back to school, I served as a Peace Corps volunteer for about two years, where I taught in a rural West African school.  My main project was to develop early literacy skills in the students at my lower basic school, while also developing positive teaching/discipline strategies for the teachers at the school.  My experience living and working in a small African village made me appreciate literacy and all it affords those who have it.  

I feel so lucky to have found this group, as this project combines many of my interests and experiences in a potentially globally influential way.

LinkedIn

Twitter:  @AbigailAdams228

[Thibault Sorret]

Hello everyone!

 

I'm Thibault Sorret, a young Frenchman who grew up in China and is currently studying at McGill University in Montreal, Canada. These past few years, I've been focusing on learning methodologies, particulalry in the fields of habit creation and accelerated learning. More recently, I've grown fascinated by moonshot projects and the scale of potential impact they have. DEV4X was a perfect match!

 

I'll be trying to reach out to experts in education and ed-tech to try to understand how to create and deploy an effective learning experience from scratch, and encourage students to extend the learning from the digital to their physical enviromnents.

 

This could be huge. I'm excited to work with a team of brilliant people on it!

 

LinkedIn: ca.linkedin.com/in/thibaultsorret/

Twitter/Instagram: @ThibaultSorret

Email: thibaul...@gmail.com

[Robert Eckart]

Greetings Moonshooters ! My name is Robert Eckart, Managing Director of Codechamps International Corporation. (www.codechamps.com)  I am donating our expertise as an experienced builder and operator of decentralized and remote wireless village educational systems. Bodo is an inspiring leader with a good insight on energetic sustainability. When it is time to land this Moonshot in the village - I will look forward to guiding it down with you !  

[Diana Sharp]

Hi Everyone!  I’m Diana Sharp, a mom and a learning scientist, and I’ve been exploring technology for literacy development for over 20 years.  What excites me about this project is that it understands these three critical truths:

1)   When you give a child a book about something the child personally loves, it matters.

2)   When you make sure that reading the book will not frustrate the child, it matters.

3)   When you show a child how the letters in a new word go with the sounds in the word, it matters.

I’ve worked on many projects for empowering children as readers, and what’s become clear to me is that self-teaching, with material that ignites and strengthens a child’s personal interests, is one of the most powerful forms of learning a child can do.  I’d love to help end reading frustration and failure for every child, anywhere in the world, so that every child can become a confident and avid reader. 

You can find out more about me here:  www.dianasharp.com

and connect with me on LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/dianasharp1

[Moodle Muse]

G'day , my name is Natalie Denmeade from Australia. I work in Educational Technology and Gamification as a freelance developer.  I love downloading software and clicking on every button I can find and then start imagining how this technology can improve learning opportunities. I teach part-time so I get to try it with students who give me direct and honest feedback. Like many of you I have spent time traveling and living overseas. I am a mother of two children 7 year old girl and and 8 year old boy (who would make great testers :). Their Dad is from Tanzania so we have close connections to our friends and family in Tanzania.

When I was in Tanzania, with my interest in technology and education, I could see a vision of how smartphones will create opportunities for the next generation of children. The Moonshot project is a step in that direction.

You can read more about projects I have been involved with on Linked in: au.linkedin.com/pub/natalie-denmeade/52/597/531/en

or Twitter: @moodlemuse or my website www.moojoo.com.au

[Anna Bell]

Hello everyone! My name is Anna Bell and I currently help manage an online education venture based in New York City. Using a traditional LMS and a more "classic" approach to online learning has taught me much about the limitations of traditional learning formats (presentation of material, class discussion, assignment).  

I believe the key to making education effective for all learners is using AI and other technologies that deliver content based on the existing skills and gaps in knowledge of the learner. I also have high hopes for the power of gamification to keep students motivated and interested. With these tools and widespread implementation, I believe that it is possible to create a culture of self-education throughout the world. 

What inspires me most about the Moonshot Education Project is that it puts the power of education into the hands of each individual, and is tailor-made for that individual.

Looking forward to learning and working with you all. 

[Derek Lomas]

Hello!

I am a learning scientist, designer and father of two. My PhD research focused on continuous improvement of educational outcomes in online learning games, using large-scale experiments and machine learning. My previous work involved designing educational games for very low cost computers in developing countries. Now, I'm based at the UCSD Design Lab, with Don Norman, Scott Klemmer and Jim Hollan. I'm interested in understanding the cultivation of personal interests and the transfer of motivation. 

I am impressed with the blend of ambition and practicality in this project, as it seeks to find workable solutions to a big problem. 

I can help with coming up with effective design processes or referencing previous projects.

Cheers,

Derek

[Stu Holmes]

Hi everyone, I'm Stu and I live in the city of Bristol, UK. My background is in Aerospace Engineering and I've spent most of my career working for Airbus, doing project & quality management on various aircraft programmes. I would like to develop an open learning requirements document to help define the needs of the app(s) to educate the children to the required level for the final assessment, using the Early Grade Reading & Arithmetic Assessment as the starting point. I believe that working backwards from here and defining the needs of the app(s) will be the best way of finding the winning solution.

In my spare time I watch movies and attempt to play golf. I'm also currently working on a documentary on BAFTA winning screenwriter Bob Baker (wrote Wallace & Gromit, Dr. Who). 

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/profile/public-profile-settings?trk=prof-edit-edit-public_profile

Twitter: @TheBioscopist

Email: thebio...@gmail.com

[Judy Ramirez]

Hi!  My name is Judy Ramirez.

I've engineered WordsAhead to be an easier way for speech sounds to be heard, said, spelled and read.  From the day I married my husband, Victor (who has supported my creative efforts for the past 20 years), he showed more than a passing interest in my work because he was himself "held back" in elementary school because he couldn't read.  I myself, as a former speech therapist and 3rd grade classroom teacher, feel privileged for all continuing opportunities to empower people at foundational levels, so they can more easily achieve their highest destiny.

As you will see if you visit my public service website (WordsAhead.com), I do have an iterative agenda – to promote SPEECH SOUNDS!  I do dispute conventional wisdom when it comes to Language Arts pedagogy, but never intend to disparage parents, tutors or teachers who choose to remain faithful to what they've been taught.  Change is challenging, and that's why the Global Learning initiative is so hopeful.  Even the most audacious projects can be put to the test.

I've attached ideas for a potential app to swing the focus to speech sound units, away from ABCs.

[Dan Kaiser]

Hi, my name is Dan Kaiser, I live in Minnesota and my biggest passion is for empowering learners to learn for themselves. For that reason I think this XPRIZE is very important. I am a huge believer in helping people to help themselves by providing an opportunity to improve. I am excited to help with this project!

[Lauren Kurlander]

Hi everyone! My name is Lauren Kurlander, and I'm in my second year of medical school at Robert Wood Johnson Medical School in New Jersey. Before starting medical school, I served for a year as an AmeriCorps volunteer as part of City Year in East Harlem, specifically working as a tutor and mentor in a failing middle school. 

My experiences in education influenced me to start a Global Health Initiative while in medical school. I had begun developing a health education curriculum around the Ebola crisis when I came across the Moonshot Education Project. My curriculum is targeted for Sierra Leone's most critical obstacles to health, including Ebola and the deadly diseases that Ebola is overshadowing. I'm hoping to contribute to this project with accurate health-related content and am very grateful to be a part of this community of idealists! 

[Yasi Chehroudi]

Hello All,

My name is Yasi and I am based in Los Angeles, CA where I live with my boyfriend and our cat - Huckleberry.

I am passionate about education, research, technology and entrepreneurship. I currently work as a Product Quality Manager at a Dev Shop and VC firm called Originate. I have previous experiences in market research, education, interactive learning, learning management systems, technology learning and developmental psychology. 

I began helping out with the Moonshot Education Project over 6 months ago, thinking of ways to get the word out and partners to join the cause. This project excites me because it brings all of my areas of passion together. I believe that learning should be integrated into a student's real world. People should be taught based on what it is impactful and important in their cultures, in their communities and for their future. This could be very different depending on the part of the world a person is in. I believe this project has the power to provide this type of personalized education with an eye for relevancy and impact. An education without the transfer of skills that will allow a person to contribute more effectively to their own life and to their community is missing its mark. I think this project has the potential to have real impact on the world's happiness, education, economy and community. 

Please feel free to connect via Linkedin! 

Yasi

[Naomi Malone]

Hi everyone,

I'm Naomi Malone and I'm an instructional designer interested in designing online environments for informal self-regulated learning. I'm currently at the tail end of my dissertation, which is a study of the effectiveness of injecting question prompts to aid in students' self-monitoring behaviors while engaged in ill-structured problem solving.

This project really resonates with me because I believe in giving children the ability to regulate their own learning by providing them with challenging real-world questions and problems to research and resolve together.

I would love to collaborate with others to design interactive mobile and web learning environments that provide both intrinsic and extrinsic motivation and feedback to learners. I can help with all aspects of the instructional design process.

[meera ravi]

Hello Everyone,

I am Meera Ravi. I am a writer, a game designer, a tinkerer, a social entrepreneur, a Nietzsche fan, a multilingual, a dancer, a cyclist, a foodie and an avid traveler. My focus is on Cognitive Science, Educational Technology and Research. A child who is poor does not have a poor mind. This revelation from my experiences as a teacher in rural southern India is what drives my passion for democratizing education. I hope to leverage games as artifacts to help bridge the socio-economic divide in education for underserved communities.

Thank you for inviting me and I look forward to collaborating with everyone. 

LinkedIn Profile

[Riccardo Giorato]

Hi, my name is Riccardo. I have always believed that sufficient education has the power to improve the world.

I'm  a full-stack web developer (frontend and backend) and I have submitted the application to join dev4x to help you.

I'd like to share and use my web skills but also programming skills (oop,mvc,db) with you to create the future learning platform because I'm bored of the actual development of school in the whole world.

[Kirill Kireyev]

Hi everyone!

My name is Kirill, I live in Berkeley, CA (San Francisco area).

My background is in Computer Science (NLP, ML, AI) & Cognitive Science, and I focus on building intelligent education technologies. I'm the founder of instaGrok (an interactive search engine for learners), and technical architect behind TextGenome (reading/literacy recommendation) and CatZilla Grading (adaptive math scoring & interventions). 

My LinkedIn profile is here.

Looking forward to collaborating with you all!

[Miles Lasater]

Hello everyone!

I'm Miles Lasater and recently joined the team.  I look forward to working with you!

I am an entrepreneur and angel investor with a love of learning, a passion for making dreams become reality and having a positive impact on the world.  Founder of Higher One, SeeClickFix, MakeHaven, Startups4Good and the Yale Entrepreneurial Society.  I studied computer science in college, have managed large tech teams, done product management and taught management of software development at the Yale business school.

More about me: http://www.mileslasater.com/about/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mileslasater

Miles

[Daniel Buehrer]

Hi everyone,

My name is Dan Buehrer.  I’m from Green Bay, Wisconsin, but have been teaching Artificial Intelligence in Taiwan since 1979.  You can see my homepage at http://www.cs.ccu.edu.tw/~dan.  I retired last year since I’m now 66, so I’m trying to figure out what to do with the rest of my life.  I have a beautiful wife from Taiwan, two sons, their wives from Korea and Malaysia, and two grandchildren.  I would like to learn how to write Chinese with my grandchildren, but this literacy task of re-entering first grade is somewhat daunting.  My son Varqa’s favorite quote is from Jorge Gutierrez, director of the cartoon movie “The Book of Life” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GP4q-ufAgvg  http://www.thebookoflife.org/what-is-the-book-of-life/, who told him, “If it’s not hard work, it’s not good.”  Varqa just recorded a 3-minute piece at Warner Bros. studio as part of his USC scoring for movies and television program https://music.usc.edu/departments/smptv/.  My other son, Vahid, is teaching English at my wife’s English tutorial school, but is planning to study Chinese medicine.  I hope that he will be able to compile a list of activators and inhibitors for Chinese herbs, as Dr. William Li is doing for natural foods http://www.angio.org .

 

For years, I have refused to be “linked in” to social media, and still don’t have a cell phone.  However, it’s time for a change.  For this project, I would like to spend a year working on adapting the Carnegie Mellon’s pocketsphinx neural network to get better recognition for children with different accents, such as Swahili or Chinese.  I can’t claim to be an expert at neural networks, but I have made it through Andrew Ng’s course https://www.coursera.org/course/ml .  Although the mathematics of neural networks is beyond my abilities, I think that I should be able to use Octave or some other neural network software http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neural_network_software along with HTML5, JavaScript, etc.

 

Eventually, we should attempt to use deep neural networks to allow the network to suggest useful learning paths to students, based on the current abilities, interests, and situation of the student, and based on the number of likes, success rates, and other features to filter the content.  As most of you know, the Internet is filled with a bunch of crap, advertisements, and bias, but there are pearls of wisdom out there, and we should teach the students how to recognize and organize their mental bookmarks as they develop their models of the world.  The Moonshot prototype is a good start, but there are many issues to be resolved, such as security and privacy.  In our attempt to carry forward an ever-advancing civilization, we must be careful to think thoroughly about all of the intended and unintended effects of the content, like the depression that results from seeing other people’s nice living conditions (like mine) on Facebook.  Rather than the joy that comes from winning games, we should allow students to learn that “true joy” comes from matching our abilities to the challenges faced by mankind http://www.ted.com/talks/mihaly_csikszentmihalyi_on_flow?language=en .   

           

There are some free pearls of wisdom on the Internet, such as Ted Talks and Coursera courses.  Other software is expensive, only available to large corporations and their employees.  This offends our sense of fairness, which is based on the Pareto-optimal strategy of cooperative game theory, rather than the “greedy strategy” of the Nash equilibrium https://www.coursera.org/course/gametheory.

What will the future be like for our children and grandchildren?  Nobody knows for sure, but we do have some hints from famous thinkers.  For example, Google’s Director of Engineering, Ray Kurzweil, has analyzed the speed of scientific advancement to predict that the “singularity” will occur around 2029 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RIkxVci-R4k.  This involves what I refer to as “socially intelligent computer ontologies” (i.e. sicos).  Although I originally shared Elon Musk’s fears of the clash of civilizations, after listening to Anita Moorjani’s description of the “glorious fabric” of human relations https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rhcJNJbRJ6U and the adverse effects of fear-based ontologies, I realize that we will have to merge our civilizations if we want to survive.  In order to keep up with computer-based self-reflective systems, we may have to use direct neural network implants rather than our rather primitive Android-based devices, at least until we learn how to inject genetically manufactured memory sequences without rejection by our immune systems.  We will also have to construct more effective social institutions, including a world governing body and a police force that is capable of forcing large militaries/industries/governments to play by the rules of the Pareto-optimal strategy that “we” (i.e. humans) devise.  So far humans have successfully controlled nuclear proliferation, climate, and chemical/biological weapons through a network of treaties.  However, this structure will probably not be sufficient for the clash with civilizations that do not follow the “rules of the game”.  Like it or not, the “Federation” is inevitable, and it is our only hope as a civilization.  There must be penalties for rogue sicos or from terrorists who try to “pull the plug”.  Just as prison serves to protect society from those who break the laws, disconnection from the network and blacklisting should await those sicos who don’t play by the rules of the game.  Only a very powerful centralized government can provide such security.  Who controls the government?  The algorithm for making laws can be democratically based on the number of likes/dislikes of social media, as long as everyone can get on the Internet.  However, as Wikipedia has found out, the opinions should probably be weighted by the member’s recognized and proven expertise.

            Let’s be careful, but let’s get it done.  The design of the future is in our hands, not in those of some military-industrial-government complex.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[thomas johns]

Hello All,

My name is Thomas Johns. I believe in the power of communication and education. We are at a point where many of the problems of our societies can be solved. Through education a child not only learns about the world but also to believe in themselves. Through communication we learn to understand others and the more we understand the less we hate.

I'm working on a space that combines entrepreneurship,project-based learning and mentorship and can't wait to help out here at dev4x

http://www.moonshot.education

[Dipti Siddamsettiwar]

Hello Everyone! 

My name is Dipti Siddamsettiwar. I am really happy to know about this great initiative and to join this discussion group. I was recently chosen for NYC moonshot challenge and that's where I got to know about this project.

I am a UX/UI designer. I have completed my MS Communications Design (Digital Design emphasis) degree from Pratt Institute, NY and have a background in Design and Architecture. While at Pratt I interned with a startup, Design United, where I worked as a UX/UI Design Intern to help build a new and innovative Global Virtual Office Incubator platform and their official website. I also interned with my design hero James Victore and at Pratt Institute- Creative services. Prior to this, I have 3.5 years of experience working as an Architect with Architectural firms. I feel very lucky to have got a chance to get the best education in my life which has helped and shaped my life to a great extent and because of that I think I am doing what I love. I believe in the power of education and wish that everyone deservers to learn and find what they love and that's why this initiative excites me.

I have a passion for design and have a burning desire to use my skills to make a difference and create work that matters. I wish to collaborate with teams and people who share the same interest for changing the world. I think the first step to change the world is by being that change. I strongly believe that it can be possible by collaboration and team effort. I am interested in using design and technology to build engaging human experiences and would like to be the part of this project. Sometimes while designing I like to take quick break and dance to Pharrell Williams Happy song :)

I live in New Jersey with my husband and I have been in this country for over 4 years now. I am very excited and looking forward to knowing you all and join this initiative.

My work: https://www.behance.net/Dipti_Design

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/diptisiddamsettiwar

[Masud Khan]

Hi everyone,

My name is Masud Khan and I'm a software engineer at Amazon in Seattle.  I'm a Canadian and moved here about 3 years ago after graduating, and have grown to love the small bouts of sunshine in between all the grey days :P.  In my spare time I like to stay active, spend time with friends and my girlfriend, and I volunteer for Room to Read in Seattle, helping setup and advertise events. Back in 2013 I took a trip to Nepal to visit some of Room to Read's schools, and it was one of the best experiences of my life.

I'm passionate about helping the world's poorest and always have been - it's been my dream for most of my life to be able to do so, and in recent years I've been interested in helping through education.

linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/masudio

twitter: https://twitter.com/masudio

[Niketan Valapakam]

Hello everyone! 

Im Niketan Valapakam and am currently doing my undergraduate at Mcgill University in Montreal. With a major in finance and minor in math, one could say that I'm a numbers guy. Being born and brought up in India I've been exposed to numerous opportunity to address various social concerns. Having being involved in numerous social enterprises, be it within my high school, university or independently - i believe that the underlying root cause to all social problems can be solved via education.

With a large interest in new an innovative ideas/approaches, I am ecstatic to be a part of DEV4X. I am looking forward to contribute as well as learn from the link minded people within this organisation.

"Its not about ideas. It's about making ideas happen." ~ Scott Belsky

Linkdin: https://ca.linkedin.com/pub/niketan-valapakam/a7/870/821

Email: niket...@gmail.com

[Jake Fischer]

Hi there!

My name is Jake Fischer and I’m currently pursuing a BS in Economics at the Wharton School of Business. Art has always been a passion of mine as it is an outlet to translate wonder into a tangible reality. All children deserve the opportunity to nurture their curiosity, and grow beyond the constraints they are born into. I’m passionate about this project because an education is necessary to realize one’s potential. Providing this missing necessity would fill a void that would drastically improve the quality of life of kids everywhere, and largely, better this world.

I’m excited to get involved with Dev4X, and help empower children with knowledge, the greatest tool of all. 

[Ed Friesema]

Hi my name is Ed Friesema. I'm a video editor and software developer whose interests include making new technology to help solve problems.  I know C++ and am learning Javascript, and programming with an Arduino microprocessor.  I'm also taking a machine learning class from Stanford Professor Andrew Ng, to learn algorithms for unsupervised learning and pattern recognition.  I live in Los Angeles,CA .  If anyone here feels I might be able to help them with a task in our project please email me roninf...@gmail.com. 

[Patrick Morris-Suzuki]

Hi,

I am Patrick Morris-Suzuki. I am running my own Global Learning XPRIZE team but am also helping out dev4x. Please feel free to contact me via linkedin.

--Patrick

[Mahdi Farimani]

Hello everyone

My name is Mahdi Farimani. I'm living in Tehran-Iran. actually one of the hardest question everybody can asking me is what are you doing. well I did lots of things. mostly managing software projects and at the same time manage the UX /UI design and managing the customer requirements.me and my team developed a web platform to a non for profit organization that give scholarships to unprivileged children to motivate them and their family for education. right now we are working on a web platform to create a social network of people who care about this to discover and register those unprivileged children and find sponsors for their scholarship and find mentors to observe and help them. when I was searching in internet for similar projects accidentally I saw dev4x. I strongly believe this approach will  transform education all over the world.  and I would be happy to be part of this. 

I can help in research, UX/UI design and also If one day dev4x decided to lunch in Iran, I can handle the project here.

I'm very excited to be part of this world changing project. and looking forward to talk with every one of you in person someday.

linkedin profile

Facebook profile

[Joshua Weiss]

Hi all. I'm Josh Weiss, an instructional technologist based in Boston. I was an English teacher for 7 years in Hawaii and Brazil, where I spearheaded education technology initiatives. I now work full-time in edtech in a UX/LX/instructional design/LMS management role for the Boston Architectural College. 

I have strong experience in learning design and curricular development for non-native English populations. My Master's in Education also affords me expertise in constructivist pedagogy and experiential learning, which sounds to be a bit of what Dev4x is after. My current coursework towards a Master's in Digital Media Design provides a solid background in authoring digital assets. I hope to be of help to the learning design process as well as to guiding UX design. 

I am fluent in Spanish and Portuguese, and chiefly learned these languages through digital resources. I am passionate about affording similar resources to under-served communities, and particularly in structuring learning environments that are conducive both to exploration and to scaffolded growth. 

I look forward to meeting you all soon!

Josh 

https://www.linkedin.com/in/joshuaeweiss

[Timothy Young]

Hey team, I'm Tim from New Zealand. I have completed a MSc in Psych, and a PGCert Educational Psych, and am now looking to make a meaningful impact on the world. Considering the power education can have on a society, and the quality of lives of individuals within a society, I think helping provide education to the world's poorest people is a good place to start.

Through extensive research for my thesis I came to the conclusion that improving children's self motivation to complete educational tasks is the best way to improve educational outcomes. I also found that the best way to increase motivation is to make education is fun and addictive as possible i. e. through the use of games. This probably sounds quite obvious, but I think a key part to our success will be how seamlessly we can incorporate opportunities to learn within an addictive game.

I'm looking forward to working with you all.